Lanterns Second Episode: A Bird, Bodysnatching, and Possibly Bad Ideas

The following contains spoilers from Lanterns Season 1, Episode 2, “Trust Fall,” which debuted on HBO and HBO Max August 23, 2026.

The second episode of Lanterns debuted on HBO, following up the series premiere which ended with ten-year time-jump and Hal Jordan’s apparent death. “Trust Fall” keeps its action firmly planet in 2016, though it split up the two central characters. Overall, the episode’s focus is firmly on Hal Jordan, while giving DC Comics fans both Sinestro and the famous Green Lantern oath.

Ironically, splitting up Hal Jordan and John Stewart was a great way for the show to bring the characters more closely together. The two have a well-established dynamic that was developed off screen. Splitting them apart creates space for context, allowing audiences to infer things about them. This is to be expected from any TV show with LOST‘s Damon Lindelof as an executive producer. It also introduces a possible “Big Bad” for Lanterns: a Manhunter, another name that stirs excitement in the hearts of Green Lantern comics fans.

‘Trust Fall’ Shows How Hal Jordan Works a Case Without His Green Lantern Powers

Early in the episode, Hal sends John Stewart off to California to collect the power battery for his ring. This both facilitates the separation and allows the show to save some of the special effects budget by limiting his access to his powers. By spending time with Hal while John is away, Lanterns reveals his personality is as much a construct as anything generated by the ring. He may no longer suit up in the uniform. But he still wears a mask, whether it’s his reaction to John maintaining his fabricated bird without the ring or showboating to the people of Rushville.

In one darkly comedic sequence, he steals the bodies of the four murdered aliens from the morgue and drives around town with them in the car. He doesn’t even need all of their bodies, because the purpose is just to confirm the metal detectors at the high school football field are actually alien detectors. This proves to him that the shooting which brought him to town wasn’t an accident or coincidence. The people of Rushville are targeting extraterrestrials. Even though one of her father-in-law’s guards shoots him, Sheriff Kerry Kane is the only person in Rushville immune to his innate powers.

Driving around with the bodies and making a scene allow keep everyone, from John to the alien prisoner from the pilot to everyone in Rushville, unsettled. It doesn’t work on Sheriff Kane. When she calls him out on his bullshit, Hal not only admits it but apologizes. These first two episodes lightly imply Hal is sweet on her but without overdoing it. What’s not clear is if Hal accepts her rebuke because of that, or if he feels that way because she’s the type of person who immediately earns his respect. (She is from Gotham City, after all.) Either way, with his power ring recharged, this makes her the most dangerous person in Rushville.

John Stewart’s Coast City Adventure Shows How He Sees the Green Lantern

Throughout Lanterns, John Stewart is capable and observant. This is just one of the reasons why he confidently sees being Earth’s Green Lantern as his destiny. Yet, even though he knows Hal plays mind games with him, he doesn’t catch Hal’s obvious reaction to the bird construct. He doesn’t realize how impressive manifesting the bird and maintaining it was until someone more familiar with Green Lantern powers explains it.

When John returns to Rushville, he shares a coffee with Zoey, the woman he slept with in the premiere. This conversation adds an interesting dimension to the way he approaches his working relationship with Hal. He even identifies a troubling racial component to his “mission” in “Trust Fall” viewers may miss. His mentor frustrates him, from the rental car drenched in “alien goo” to the begrudging “hoorah” he gets for successfully maintaining the bird construct. Despite all this, it’s clear that John Stewart still sees Hal Jordan the same way he did as a kid watching that interview from the Lanterns series premiere.

It goes beyond mere respect for “the chain of command” or Hal’s experience wearing the ring. He’s still, in some ways, “his hero.” His surprise at the ostentatious mansion Hal calls home proves he doesn’t know much about his mentor beyond the public persona. He asks when Hal is “going to actually move into” the house. Hal tells him he’s lived there for eight years. Mansion (and predatory alien plant pet) aside, Earth’s most famous superhero (at least in 2016) maintains the kind of minimalist lifestyle a Marine can admire. The most telling moment comes when he finds the Green Lantern costume in Hal’s closet.

He touches them reverently, and — just like a fan — holds it up to his neck in front of a mirror to imagine what he would look like wearing it. Despite expressing doubt to Zoey, John does trust Hal, at least a little bit. He tells his mentor about being kidnapped by a group of aliens tied to the five who died in Rushville. He reveals they may be dealing with a Manhunter, and that he was “explicitly told” not to do so. Yet, he does not reveal being worked over by an alien doodad that showed him some vision of the Manhunter’s destruction.

The Mystery In Lanterns Goes Beyond the Threat Posed by the Manhunter

Those familiar with DC Comics knows that Manhunters are as deeply tied to Green Lantern lore as Sinestro, the Guardians, and the oath. Viewers should note the way Hal asked John if he “told the Guardians” anything about the Manhunters, though. This alien killing machine is Lanterns‘ central threat, but Hal doesn’t fully trust the Guardians, either. Unlike the comics, the Green Lantern Corps isn’t one big team who work together to keep the cosmic peace. It’s why even though he killed a Guardian and rots in a prison, Sinestro is who Hal Jordan went to see at the end of the episode. If the show further explores Hal’s closeness to Sinestro — and if this is unique — it adds another layer to his stand-offish dynamic with his own trainee.

The story unfolding in 2016 will likely focus on the Manhunter and the threat it poses. The addition of the 48-hour ticking clock imposed by the alien mercenaries all but ensures addressing that side of things will be Hal’s and John’s priority. The other side of the mystery, particularly the Guardians’ role in all this, will likely be part of the storyline in 2026 exploring the fallout of Hal Jordan’s death. It will also bring in Guy Gardner, whose position as Green Lantern of Earth is curiouser given what the series has established about Hal and John’s position as his backup or replacement.

Rating: 4.7/5

New Lanterns episodes debut on Sundays at 9 PM on HBO and HBO Max.